Pages

Mar 30, 2014

An Open Letter to the Plateau State Commissioner of Culture and Tourism, Yiljap Abraham

Since the MTN Call Centre drama of August 2012, I have lost
the most direct channel of communication that once existed between your
honorable self and I. This followed the protest by members of the Jonah Jang administration
that includes you, to express it disapproval of MTN’s decision to move the call
center out of the state.

As a citizen of the state, I have nonetheless continued to keep tract
of your ever active role in the administration. In view of the storms and
turbulence that often characterized political administrations in Nigeria, I
must extol you for remaining part of an inner caucus of such an organization
for a very long time. It is a reflection
of the quality of what you bring into the Plateau project. In view of the hard
work of the administration, one can say that you have imbibed that culture of
hard work and you could continue to be of benefit to the Plateau people for a
long time to come.

Sir, I want to believe that your switchover from Information to Tourism
and Culture comes from the skies as it coincided with a period when I had just
had a revelation in the area of tourism and culture and wanted to share it to
whoever calls the short in the culture and tourism portfolio in the state. This
revelation followed my attendance of the New Year Day celebration in the town
of Miango on January 1, 2014.

It may interest you to know that as far back as 1958, the colonial
administration in Nigeria marked out the first day of every year as a day of
cultural dance exhibition in Rigwe land, precisely in the towns of Miango and
Kwall in Bassa Local Area of our state. Over
more than half of a century, the Rigwe New Year Day celebration turned out to
be very successful because of the appeal of not just the primary events of
drumming and dancing but other attractions tied to them as well. In Miango, for
instance, these attractions include the horse race that often follows the dance
parade, the multitude of people pouring out onto the main road and axis of the
town. In addition to this number of people that often exceed sand on the
seashore, the spectrum of dress style of every individual, from my own point of
view, is also an attraction I often looked forward to, every year. As one
jostles through the crowd, there are often clowns here and there, adding
another dimension to the array of attractions.
Each time there is a social gathering of any sort in Miango or Kwall,
there are people from the surrounding hamlets who leave their homes hoping to
boost their “fame” by fighting. Such street fights have also grown to become
another attraction of the New Year Day. Bordering the axis of Miango on either
sides, are scores of recreational circles that have formed the backbone of the
economy of the town. If one has friends in different parts of the country that
he could not meet throughout the outgoing year, the New Year Day affords
him/her the opportunity to meet with such friends. Another attraction is the
sight of foreigners taking pictures of nearly all these variety of events. All these are indicative of the tourist
capacity of the carnival and it has indeed served as a destination for pleasure
seekers from across the country in the last 56 years since it was started.

Sir, I have attended Rigwe New Year Day ceremony since the seventies
and it has all been splendid until the
2014 edition that turned out to be a sad revelation, a revelation that the
event was about to collapse, prompting me to write this letter. Across the
river, in the town of Kwall, it could be said that the New Year festivity has
already collapsed. That day, Kwall was a
gloomy town of depression and despondency. This happened for first time in more
than half a century.

If our cultural exceptionality in the state is the strength of our
tourism, then one can say that the huge contribution that Rigwe land brings is
about to become extinct. Sir, I think that we are supposed to build on what the
colonial administration left us. When that happens, we can say that we are
making progress in the line of tourism in Rigwe land.

Why is this happening? In 1958 when the Rigwe New Year Day celebration
started, people had no education and the pride it brings. They came with their
native mindsets and held their dance tradition, which involved drumming and
dancing barefoot in the dust, in high esteem. Today education has changed the
mindsets of the people, giving them the pride that often repelled some learned
folks from their own native cultures. Thus young people, who are the strength
of these cultural events, wouldn’t want to dance barefoot in the dust after all
the education. Though not all have become educated but the uneducated youths
have seen the scorn with which people hold them when they dance in the dust
without shoes. They have also seen that when they spend their time rehearsing
their drumming and dancing, they don’t earn a living out of it. Hence
participating in these activities has come to be perceived as sheer waste of
time and energy. Everyone is thus
shifting his/her focus to activities that will sustain his/her life, enabling
him/her to live fairly decently, at least. It means that for the past 56 years
since the introduction of the New Year Day celebration in Rigwe land, nothing
has been added to what the Europeans started.

Sir, I wouldn’t want to deceive myself, believing that this challenge
is peculiar Rigwe land. It is all across Plateau State from Bassa to Langtang
South and from Bokkos to Wase.

Sir we know the qualities that have placed the potentials of tourism in
our hands: our diversity, geography and the hospitality of our people. We have to
work hard to ensure that these resources work for us. Tourism has to move from
the status of impending to reality.

There are two faces of tourism: local and international. I am afraid
that the state of insecurity across Nigeria has dealt a huge blow on
international tourism but at the same time the avenue for local tourism has
remained. One sees the hunger for local tourism when he visits recreational
centers on Sallah, Christmas, Easter, New Year, and weekend days. What has held
down the momentum for local tourism is the modesty of the facilities due to the
long years of administrations exhibiting laissez-faire attitudes. People often
visit these facilities and come out saddened than they were prior to the
visits. Thus one has to commend the administration for its eagle eyes that led
to the decision to overhaul the Jos Wild Life Park.

Sir, I am sure you are aware that a fully developed tourism industry
goes beyond the renovation of game reserves. A fully developed tourism domain
should have a limitless catalog of resources that provides options to pleasure-seekers
and gives the impression of a truly existing industry. Along this line, our
cultural diversity provides a lifeline. Thus the modernization of the industry
could go beyond the Wild Life Park to include the building of Modern cultural
arenas in the different cultural localities across the state so that we don’t
dance in the dust anymore. Modernization could also involve collaborating with
experts to bring refinement to our cultural costumes so that we can wear them
with pride and feel at ease. Introducing financial rewards to the best drummer,
best dance groups, best young dancer … could also change the apocalyptic trend
of events and re-awaken interest.

Sir, I know the pertinent question in your mind after reading this is
“where would the money to build and maintain such cultural edifices and reward
the dance groups come from?” My suggestion is firstly, we could legislate for a
tourism restoration tax that mandates every adult residing in the state to pay
an agreed amount annually. Secondly, people cannot enjoy tourism without paying
for it. Thirdly, budgetary rations of the state could experience a
re-adjustment to favor the sector if we consider its enhancement as crucial.

Sir, I would love to conclude by saying that the things we desperately
desire have always been with us and where there is a will, there is always a way.